Speak Up, Speak Out enters 11th year with 9/11 anniversary topic
The Speak Up, Speak Out current event series aimed at educating students and giving a forum for an open dialogue is entering its eleventh year.
Religion professor and chairwoman of the SUSO organizing committee Merlyn Mowrey said the forums deal with student life at CMU, or a local political issue that directly impacts CMU students.
“We’re trying to make sure we’re picking topics, not necessarily that the students are well-informed about, but at least they’ve heard it on the news,” Mowrey said.
Last year’s forum ended with a heated debate over the lack of rigor and participation in many CMU classes. There was talk about the topic being picked up this year, however Mowrey said they did not have a specific forum topic for it.
The first topic for this year is "10 Years After 9/11 - What Have We Learned?" and will begin at 7 p.m. on Sept. 15 in the Bovee University Center Auditorium.
The organizing committee is made up of both faculty and students. The two groups collaborate to decide which topics will be presented in the fall and spring semesters.
Topics are also decided from student surveys that are filled out at each forum.
“We take the top group (of topics) that we get the most votes for,” Mowrey said.
Each year, the forum topics usually include foreign policy, a domestic issue, science and technology, diversity, a campus issue and something random.
Shannon Salk, Milford senior and member of the student organizing committee, said she loves working with the professors and encourages fellow students to participate in the forums.
“After attending the forums, I hope students gain a better understanding of the subject and pursue the issue on a personal level,” Salk said.
Some students are persuaded to attend the forums to earn extra credit from their professors and, while Mowrey admits there are a fair number of students that come because of the extra credit, it's not a concern because they keep coming back for more.
“When we see we’ve got repeat customers … and they tell you 'I’ll be back,' we know its effective enough that students become self-motivated,” she said.
David Jesuit, a associate professor of political science and member of the faculty organizing committee, said he gives extra credit to his students after they write a summary of what they learned at the forum.
Jesuit said the forum is a time to express different points of view as well as a time for questions and comments.
“It’s about a dialogue and having students learn from one another,” Jesuit said.
For more information about SUSO, visit their website at www.chsbs.cmich.edu/SUSO.
